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The Great Gatsby
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgeral is a novel set in the time of the 1920s known as the roaring twenties. The Great Gatsby is a inspiring novel about the defilement of the American dream and the hopeless hope of attaining that dream of being part of the rich and wealthy. Although the novel is placed on New york and it's outskirts all the characters are from the west of USA. Plot The main plot of the book starts when the narrator Nick moves in to a peninsula which is referred as West Egg on the outskirts of New York city, he is neighboor of a mansion where Gatsby lives and trows renown large parties at his mansion. Nick also has a cousin, Daisy who lives on East Egg, another peninsula to the east of West Egg. The story starts when Nick is invited to Daisy's house where he meets her husband Tom Buchanas a person who is described as "one of those men who reach such an acute limited excellence at twenty-one that everything afterward savors anticlimax." (Fitzgerald 6) He also meets a friend of theirs, Jordan Baker who is a famous golf player. In this meeting Gatsby is mention which interests Daisy but the conversation quickly is changed. At the end of the day Nick sees Gatsby reaching a green light at a dock in the East Egg direction. On another day Nick meets Tom in a train headed to New York to meet his lover who lives at a garage in the Valley of Ashes between West Egg and New York. They go in the garage to meet George B. Wilson who is the husband of Tom's mistress Myrtle. She finds an excuse to go to New York and later meets with Nick and Tom to go to her apartment where Tom breaks her nose for saying Daisy's name. On another day Nick is invited to one of Gatsby's party which is best descrived as over the top. Nick meets whith Jordan and then meets Gatsby who invites him later to his hydro plane and also request a private talk with Jordan. On another day Nick get's inivited to go with Gatsby to the city where they meet a friend of Gatsby who fixed the world series in 1919. But the moment that Tom appeared Gatsby left. Nick latter consents with Jordan to arrange a meeting with Gatsby and Daisy, who first met when Gatsby was young and had no money. They fell in love with each other and Gatsby later worked to get the money to be with Daisy and build a mansion just for Daisy to come. When they meet after years at first they are shy but quickly gain trust in to each other and he invites her to one of his parties. In the party Tom meets Gatsby who has the inpresion Gatsby is a bootlegger and dislikes with Daisy the overall feeling of the party. In another day Gatsby comes with Nick to Daisy's house where they all leave to New York with Jordan. Tom driving Gatsby's car with Nick and Jordan stops by Wilson's garage where he claims it is his car and Nick notices Myrtle over raged by jelousy thinking that Jordan is Daisy. When they come to New York there is a confrontation where it is foundout that Gatsby is a bootlegger and Daisy is forced to choose and comes to an indecision in Tom's favour. Daisy ends up driving in Gatsby's car with Gatsby going to her home when she runs over Myrtle and flees the scence. When Nick comes to Daisy's house he finds Gatsby looking at the window in case of something happens to Daisy. Gatsby ends up going to his pool waiting for Daisy's call when Mr. Wilson kills him thinking that it was Gatsby driving the car. Mr. Wilson thinks this becasue Tom told him. Mr. Wilson commit's suicide after this. As Gatsby's funeral was approaching Nick tries to call people that Gatsby knew to show up. However only him, Gatsby's father and a random person who attends the parties show up for the funeral. Characters 'Jay Gatsby' A man that was obsessed with a girl so much that his vision of her was not in reality her. He acquired wealth and made the most distracting shows he could place to attract Daisy however his expectations were too much to fill and died in a tragic way. 'Nick Carraway' He is the narrator of the story. He is an active narrator who claims to be one of the most trustworthy people he knows which shows how unreliable his information is and how it could be bias. Especially since he dated Jordan Baker but still wrote letters to a girl back home. The bias of his storytelling is further emphasize when he depicts Gatsby as the great Gatsby but seems to skim over his shortcomings such as bootlegging as though they were not important. 'Tom Buchanan' He is wealthy and as previously described a man who reach its peak at the age of 21 and everything else seems anti climatic. He seems to not have a care on the world and does whatever he wants including cheating on his wife. He is so well of that he needs to come up with problems such as a revolution by the black community that will take over the white one. All in all he is the rich stuck up American boy. 'Daisy Buchanan' She is a daisy first to bloom but first to wilt away. She is a pretty rich girl with a voice full of money and an attitude of living well of. She does not care about her husband dealings and in the past was the dream girl of every guy and if you had the right resource the girl you could have for a night. All she cares about is the good life and this is demonstrated by the fact that she does not show interest in her daughter and even tells her that all she needs to be is pretty and stupid and she will be happy. 'Jordan Baker' She seems to be a friend of the Buchanan and is also a tennis player. She is a typical flapper girl. One could say that she was a bystander of all that happen without understanding the full events of everything that happened. 'Myrtle Wilson' She is Tom’s lover. She does not love her husband and even sees him as being pathetic; however she does have feelings for Tom and is jealous of his wife. 'George Wilson' A poor man that is blinded by his love for his wife and does not see the poisonous snake she is. He would do anything for her but can never truly admit that she does not love him. The green light and the American dream “he stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, and, far as I was from him, I could have sworn he was trembling. Involuntarily I glanced seaward-and distinguished nothing a single green light,” (Fitzgerald 21.) The green light in The Great Gatsby can be considered the modern American dream. The first American dream was that of equality, of every one having an equal say and that there will be no royalty and democracy will rule the country. At the time there was so controversy about the subject considering the slavery and the fact that it was the first country to start with no monarchy, however it was a noble idea to put into practice. The dream however got defiled with what is known as the root of all evil, greed. So the green light represents that dream of you can be whatever you want to be, you can be the poorest of the poor and be rich an be accepted as a wealthy successful person, and all that you have to do is work hard towards your goal. That Goal is represented by the green light. It is there it seems reachable that all that Gatsby has to do is stretch his hands just a little farther and he will reach it always trying to ignore the big obstacle between him and his goal. Gatsby’s goal is Daisy however he could never be accepted in her society or by her and the book ends with his tragic death. This is the representation of those who try to achieve the defile American dream and only reach disappointment. It is not the money that people want like in A Raisin in the Sun it is not really the money that people try to achieve but the way of life, just like Gatsby gain amounts of wealth by bootlegging and throwing parties as a beacon so he can be with Daisy. The money is a means to the dream however it is not the real dream and also the dream and reality are not the same.